Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 5/23/25 - Gates of entry are enticing and sometimes overwhelming to enter, but we can gather our courage and bring ourselves forward to experience the world which is revealed there. Drawing on teachings from the Lankavatara Sutra and the Heart Sutra, Shoan Osho tells the story of “Enid in Zendoland,” whereby Enid becomes adept at distinguishing the perceptions of their own mind, and enters a marvelous gate of ease and joy.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 5/22/25 - When we can see how we use our minds, we can see where our life is really happening. As we enter into practice and continue to relax into our zazen, we develop our capacity to see our habits and conditioning. With notes from the Surangama Sutra teaching on “purifying the mind” of obscurations, Gokan explores how we can relax completely, with awareness, and really take care of our lives.

Lopön Karla Jackson-Brewer - ZMM - 5/18/2025 - This talk from dharma teacher Lopön Karla was offered at the conclusion of the weekend retreat. Feeding your Demons brings an 11th century Tibetan practice to the West in an accessible and effective approach for dealing with negative emotions, fears, illness, self-defeating patterns, and beliefs that hinder our expression of our highest humanity as individuals and as a society.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 5/9/25 - What is it we wish to cultivate in our lives, to give energy to? Fusatsu is a chance to bring our intentions alive—especially where we have done harm—by taking responsibility for our actions. Being at one with our transgressions as well as our aspirations are at the heart of this ancient practice of atonement, or “being one with,” and allowing ourselves to resolve, forgive and release what burdens us. - Dharma Talk during the Fusatsu Ceremony at the Spring Ango Intensive.

Suzanne Taikyo Gilman, Senior Monastic - ZCNYC - 4/27/25 - Can we use our direct experience to express what words cannot adequately convey? Using a teaching from zen master Hongzhi, monastic Taikyo takes up this question of how to explore the vast universe within ourselves and share our dark fears, our vulnerability, and our joys, in traveling this path.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 4/13/25 - Gokan Osho takes us through Master Hongzhi's Practice instructions, reminding us to appreciate whatever's arising without grasping.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZCNYC - 3/30/25 - Gokan talks about the ways of distraction. Whether blatant or very subtle, they are us, they are mind, and it's so important to be gentle as we work with them.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 3/27/25 - Master Hongzhou says, "Contact phenomena with total sincerity - not a single atom of dust outside yourself." How we connect with the world of beings and things can be seen as caring, and within zazen the energy of steady presence and attention is what we offer those we love. It is a potent mix of awareness and sincerity, and it doesn’t take much of that to bring everything to life.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/23/25 - At the root of our ancestral lineage is reverence: for the Dharma, for practice and realization, and for all beings. In this talk Shugen Roshi explores the elements of faith and practice which “bring to life” the Buddha Dharma, and are central to the it’s transmission from generation to generation. Gokan Osho also shares some words on his practice of Denkai training—the priestly transmission—received from Shugen Roshi this week.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 2/16/25 - Taking up this teaching from Shitou, Gokan delves into how an ancient Zen song-poem can help us find our way in our present world of turmoil and stress. “Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely,” the teaching tells us. Don’t separate from this person who you are, this body and mind here and now. In this way we come into accord with our thoughts, words and actions, for the benefit of all beings.